Alaska-born, in 1957, Carter was working as a freelance television cameraman in Anchorage when he decided to try his luck in California, in the spring of 1984. Along the way, his quest for new beginnings would become a dead-end nightmare, as he ran amok and claimed at least five lives. His first attack, on March 25, involved the rape of a San Diego woman who survived Carter's assault. On April 10, he strangled roommates Jillette Mills, 35, and Susan Knoll, 33, stuffing their bodies in a closet of their Culver City apartment. The following day, in Los Angeles, he strangled 24-year-old Bonnie Guthrie, a friend of Knoll's, moving on to kill 37-year-old Tok Chum Kim in her Oakland apartment, on April 13. A day later, the fast-moving killer was back in San Diego, where he strangled 25-year-old Janette Cullins to death at her home. Arrested on May 15, in Ventura County, Carter was held in lieu of $1 million bond while detectives built their case. Evidence recovered from his car linked Carter with the Oakland strangulation, and within a week he had been charged with five counts of murder, marking the end of his rampage.